


Jane's Proposal

by Thanatoaster



Series: Proposals [1]
Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: M/M, Marriage Proposal, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-20 01:02:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13135875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thanatoaster/pseuds/Thanatoaster
Summary: Jane proposes to Tavish.





	Jane's Proposal

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hanktalkin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hanktalkin/gifts).



> Me and Hanktalkin decided to write each other Christmas gift fics following a theme. I'd write a fic where Jane proposes to Tavish, Hank would write a fic where Tavish proposes to Jane. 
> 
> Merry Christmas Hank!

Before the War they'd been happy, they'd been in love. But they had also been stupid, neither had taken their contracts with their employers too seriously. Sure they weren't allowed to fraternize with the enemy, but with respawn and a lack of consequences in their daily lives, it was hard to believe the contracts really meant anything.

So they'd gone on dates, none very traditional but still much too public. They'd taken photos even, evidence that has somehow gotten back to the administrator. And when the administrator's assistants had come to turn them against each other, they had both been foolish enough to believe the other had betrayed them.

It was all so obvious in hindsight, the lies and the bribery. The administrator had known just the buttons to push to get them to turn against each other. Jane had felt so betrayed by the only man he'd ever loved.

The War had lasted only a week, and when it was finished and the anger faded there was nothing left but a pair of shitty boots. Without a point system and prizes to spur them on, neither Jane nor Tavish seemed to hate the other that much anymore.

A few weeks later all it took was the two of them ending up alone in a shed during the humiliation round for all the lies to come to the surface.

There had been a lot of crying for sure, first Tavish, always a weepy drunk, but Jane had joined not long after. He told Tavish he'd heard him call him a civilian; the shock on Tavish's face had been genuine, and Jane knew he couldn't fake that.

That evening they'd huddled together in the corner of that shed, pressed close together with fingers intertwined, and promised to never hurt one another again. Jane couldn't help himself as he confessed his love for Tavish all over again, and it was worth it just to hear Tavish say: “I never stopped loving you.”

It had been a month since then, and they would still meet up outside battle whenever they could. It was harder now, both of them terrified of being found out. The times they could meet up seemed so rare, times when they were both alive after battle, when their teammates weren't wandering too close. They would sit down again like that had that one day and just talk.

Mostly about little things, drama at their bases, what they'd seen on the news, but it was still something entirely different than the relationship Jane had with his own team.

They hadn't kissed since before the War, though Jane wanted too. They both did. But every time they got close there was that lingering fear that the administrator was watching. That if they got too close again somehow she'd know. The War was too recent, the wounds of betrayal still so sore they were both afraid of being hurt again.

In their minds they both knew they could trust one another, they knew it better than anything else, but it didn't stop the fear in their hearts from keeping them apart.

And Jane was done being scared.

Coming back from the War together, there was no doubt left in Jane's mind that he would never love anyone else the way he loved Tavish. He would never be able to trust anyone as wholly and truly as he did Tavish, he'd never find anyone that loved him the way Tavish did.

Jane wanted to show it with more than words, Jane wanted to marry him.

He knew he couldn't, not now anyway. Not when the administrator was watching and they had to keep their relationship a secret. But he thought about the future, the eventual day when the war between RED and BLU would come to an end and they would be free to just be themselves. Jane didn't want anything more than to spend those last years of his life with his best friend and one true love.

Although they may not be able to get married yet, Jane didn't want to wait to propose. He wanted to give Tavish some sort of ring that could be symbolic of how committed he was. They didn't need vows to promise they'd stick together forever this time.

Now Jane found himself creeping down the hall to the engineer's workshop. The rest of the team would be in the dining hall waiting for dinner to be served, so it was the perfect time to do some sneaking around.

Entering the workshop, the soldier found what he was looking for. Engie kept several buckets filled with scrap metal in the corner of his workshop, full of odds and ends just ripe for the picking. He started to rifle through the buckets, trying to find a piece of metal just the right thickness. Something he wouldn't need any power tools to manipulate.

He really didn't need to sneak around to get the scrap metal. The engineer was perfectly aware that the medals soldier kept giving out to everyone were made with scraps from old dispensers and turrets. But they had a silent agreement that Jane would sneak around and “steal” the metal, and the engineer would pretend not to notice. So long as Soldier only touched the scraps of course.

Finally, Jane found what he was looking for. A strip of metal a little jagged on one side, less than a half inch wide. It still had a bit of blue paint on it from whatever contraption it had been out on the field, but Jane could deal with finishing it up himself.

Slipping the little piece into his pocket, Jane went to join the rest of the team at dinner.

When he returned to his room afterwards, he got to work immediately on the ring.

At first, he'd thought about buying one. After all, when he thought of an engagement ring, he envisioned a gold band with a giant rock set in the middle. That seemed too feminine though, and any type of set stone could be easily broken off during battle. That ended up being the reason he decided not to buy a ring at all. Even just a plain band would end up scratched to hell from being worn on the field, and if it was too flashy people would probably question where it came from.

Jane had decided to make it, something cheap and subtle but durable. The cost didn't matter anyway, Tavish was rich, and it was meant to be more symbolic than anything.

First thing Jane did was bend the little strip around his finger to make the shape. He knew Tavish's hands, fingers a bit thinner and longer than his own, just enough that he could approximate off his own ring finger.

Next he trimmed off the excess metal with a large pair of cutters he kept under his desk. Then came the hardest part, slowly filing down the jagged edges into something smooth that would be comfortable to wear. This was more important than any of the little foil medals he's made for himself and his team, this had to be perfect.

He ended up spending six hours filing down the metal, his hands were sore and calloused by the time he finished at 2am. He ended up leaving some of the blue paint on the ring, it seemed fitting after all for the RED demoman to have a little bit of BLU like Jane.

With the hardest part over, Jane rolled the two ends of the metal strip together with pliers, making a little bumped up joint on the band of the ring. He slid it on and off his pinkie a few times, just to test that the inside was nice and smooth.

Then finally it was done, and Jane just stared at the ring in his palm, heart hammering in his chest. Everything was ready, all he had to do was propose.

He thought making the ring was going to be the hard part, but it turned out getting a chance to be with Tavish after battle was the real issue. They didn't have another furlough until a few weeks away, and Jane was eager to propose as soon as possible. The only problem was that one of them was getting killed after battle every single day. It was driving Jane crazy, and the ring felt like it was burning a hole in his pocket as he ran around blowing up REDs. Today however, today luck seemed to be on his side. Him along with Medic and Heavy managed to push the payload all the way to RED base. With victory assured, the soldier quickly hopped back away from the payload to avoid getting caught in the impending explosion.

“ Victory!” Came the administrator's voice over the intercom, signalling the explosion that immediately consumed Heavy, Medic, and the poor RED Scout what was just a little too slow to stop the cap.

Jane shielded himself from the rain of debris, then set his sights on the little overhang he'd seen the RED demoman lobbing stickybombs from earlier. He couldn't be too far.

Jane hiked his way up the slope and started exploring the couple rooms up top. His heart started beating faster in anticipation, and he tried to dust off the coating of rubble on his jacket from the explosion.

When he entered the last little building, something screamed and slammed into his side, causing him to yelp.

“ Jesus Mary Murphey!” he exclaimed, gripping his chest as he recognized the attacker as none other than Tavish.

“ Gotcha lad!” Demo cackled, jamming an elbow in Jane's side.

“ You did not, I cannot be ambushed! I am constantly aware of everything around me in a ten mile radius.” Jane said, despite his obvious near heart-attack.

“ Yeah sure.” Tavish rolled his eyes, but was wearing that grin that made Jane's heart melt. “Anyway, I missed you these past few days. I keep getting killed, it's a bloody mess.”

Jane nodded, his heart beating from shock morphing into nerves as he began to remember his plan.

“ Jane? You alright?”

His neck snapped up to look at Tavish.

“ Y-Yes! All is well. L-let's go sit down.” Jane dropped his rocket launcher on a crate and grabbed Tavish's hand. He tried to swallow down the stuttering as he pulled them over to the far end of the room.

“ Alright.” Tavish shrugged, letting Jane pull him along.

The metal floor was cold and hard, but they were used to spending time in uncomfortable places.

“ I can't believe our next furlough is so far away,” Tavish said, sliding an arm around Jane's shoulders to pull them closer together as they sat on the floor, “I'm just so eager for us to go on a vacation somewhere again. It's been too long... we can be more careful this time.” There was a wistfulness to his voice that made Jane's stomach twist.

“ Yes... I miss it too. There will be no pictures this time, and no bar fights.”

“ None?!” Tavish balked, looking almost horrified at the idea.

Jane grinned at the expression.

“ Nothing big enough to get our descriptions mentioned in a police report anyway.”

“ Bah, The administrator ruins all the fun.” Tavish grumbled.

Jane frowned, Tavish was trying to make light of it all, which Jane appreciated most of the time, but something about this just felt wrong.

“ Can we just not talk about her right now?” Jane said tightly, hands balled into fists. Tavish sensed the mood change immediately.

“ Aye.... You're right, I'm sorry.” Tavish rubbed Jane's shoulder comfortingly.

“ It... It's all right. Just...” He wasn't sure how to articulate it.

“ Nah, I understand. It's bad taste.”

Jane just nodded, and took off his helmet so he could rest his head on Tavish's shoulder. God he missed this. Even a few days was too long to be away from him. How he'd survived the War was a mystery.

“ Actually there is something I wanted to ask you,” Jane murmured, heat rushing up his neck.

“ Yeah?” Tavish didn’t move, not suspecting what was about to happen.

“ Um…” Jane pulled away a bit, shoving his hand in his coat pocket and scooping up the ring in his fingers. He closed his hand around it, keeping it concealed as he removed his hand from the pocket.

“ Is it something serious?” Tavish asked suddenly, brows knitting together. He’d noticed Jane’s sudden fidgeting.

“ No! Well… yes. But it’s not something bad. I don’t think so anyway…”

“ Jane?”

“ J-Just shut up for a minute!” Great job soldier, real romantic, he thought to himself. “Sorry.”

“ It’s alright love, take your time.” Tavish rubbed Jane’s shoulder and smiled at him softly.

Damn him for being so goddamn patient. 

Jane sucked a breath in through his nose, then blew it out his mouth. He could do this damnit! Backing out was not an option.

“ I’ve been thinking about everything. The War, what it did to us, and what it means for us now. I don’t want us living in fear of the administrator all the time, but we have to anyway. It doesn’t matter what I want.”

“ Jane…”

“ No! Let me finish, I’m going somewhere with this I promise.” He couldn’t be interrupted now and lose his train of thought. Tavish closed his mouth and leaned back against the wall.

“ We can’t be the same as we were before the War. We’ll have to meet less, be more secretive and quieter. It’s going to be shitty but we will deal with it.” Jane grabbed Tavish’s hand with the one not holding the ring, and squeezed it tightly. “We can always deal with it. And even if things are worse now… I still don’t think I regret it. We went through all that shit, but I think it made us stronger Tavish.” Jane bit his lip before continuing. “Before the War I knew I loved you more than anyone else. I could trust you with everything, even the secrets I never told anyone. I thought you broke that trust but that was just a lie… You thought I had betrayed you, but never during our fighting did you ever call me… That. You kept my secret even when I was your worst enemy. I-I can never thank you enough for that.”

Jane took a moment to glance up at Tavish to see how he was taking it so far. To Jane’s surprise, his one eye was glossy with unshed tears. It made Jane’s stomach flip.

“ So… Now I have even more proof I can trust you, and God I don’t know if it’s possible but I think love you even more now. You are the only person for me Tavish, I don’t want anyone else.”

This was it. This was the moment. Jane’s heart hammered in his throat as he weighed what to do. He was supposed to get down on one knee right? But they were both sitting down, and he couldn’t just ask Tavish to stand up…

“ If I didn’t know any better I’d say this sounds like a proposal.” Tavish’s tearful sounding voice made the decision for him.

“ Well then I guess you don’t know any better.” Jane breathed, holding out his other hand and slowly unfurling his fingers from around the ring.

It suddenly looked so small in Jane’s eyes. Shabby and dull, not the big “wow” moment he’d been hoping for. Tavish was silent, just staring at it with that wide, watery eye. Suddenly Jane couldn’t hold back the babbled explanations.

“ I-I made it. I mean I know it’s not much but a real ring didn’t seem practical, a-and it would draw unwanted attention.”

“ Jane.”

“ I know it’s stupid. You don’t have to wear it or anything. I j-just needed something for this and I thought it could be sort of symbolic or something…”

“ Jane.”

“ Not that I’m good at any of that poetic nonsense or anything but I-”

Tavish grabbed his face and kissed him. It was hard, and desperate, their first kiss since before the war. Jane finally relaxed, going limp as Tavish’s thumbs brushed over his cheeks as they kissed. It was all too soon that they broke apart, Tavish pulling back to look at Jane with that loving gaze of his, a single tear had worked its way down his cheek.

Although it was all out in the open, he still hadn’t asked the question yet.

“ Tavish, will you marry me?”

A huge grin split his face.

“ Yes, yes Jane of course.”

Jane was smiling now too, absolutely giddy that the proposal had been a success. Tavish grabbed Jane’s face and kissed him again, just quickly this time but they both were much too excited to focus on it.

“ So do I get to wear it?” Tavish asked, and Jane was relieved to hear Tavish’s voice shaking too.

“If you want to! Not on your ring finger though since people will ask questions.”

“Well no one is here now.” Tavish gestured around the room, then held out his left hand. “Come on then…”

Jane swallowed and picked up the ring. His hands were almost shaking too much, but he managed to slip the band onto Tavish’s finger, and It fit perfectly. Nothing like quality American craftsmanship.

“I love it Jane. It really is perfect.” Tavish said, twisting his hand around to admire it.

“Really? You don’t think it’s too cheap or anything?” He couldn’t help some of those insecurities coming back up to the surface now that Tavish was inspecting the ring so closely.

“Pah! Money doesn’t mean shite Jane. You put a lot of work into it and that makes it special. You’d still love me if I was nothing but a poor bum right?”

“Well I’d probably just yell at you to get a job.” Jane muttered.

“Ah true…. A starving artist then?”

Jane elbowed Tavish’s side to make him shut up. It worked for a minute, before they both erupted into laughed.

“Well It’s still a long time until this whole RED and BLU thing is over… but I just couldn’t wait that long. I wanted to do this now.” Jane explained.

Tavish nodded, “Well I’m glad you did. You really surprised me, I really never expected you to do anything like this. Sometimes I forget there is a big softie under that tough, soldier exterior.”

“I’m not soft!” Jane complained, “I’m.... romantic.”

“That you are love.” Tavish said with a grin. “I wonder what me mum will say about all this. I figure she can keep it a secret if I tell her I’ll end up dead in a ditch if she tells anyone.”

“She’ll probably call you lazy for not proposing first.” Jane jabbed.

“Ach, You’re right! I can’t even tell her the most wonderful news of me life without getting lectured…”

Jane did nothing but laugh at his conundrum, leaning heavily against him. Tavish sighed at the lack of sympathy, but curled an arm around Jane and held him close anyway.

“I love you Jane,” Tavish murmured as he nuzzled the side of Jane’s head.

“I love you too.” Jane said.

And in that moment, he knew they would be ok.

 

 

 

 


End file.
